Sports BlogSports Bloganyfootballpodcast.comIndia set to pass 2014 Tally and reach about 66 Medals at CWGIndia set to pass 2014 Tally and reach about 66 Medals at CWG

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India is all set to pass the 2014 Medal tally and touch about 66 Medals by the end of the Games this year.&

After a tally of 64 medals from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the biggest ever Indian contingent was sent for the 2018 Games in Gold Coast. The 228-member long roster consisted& of Senior members like Mary Kom,& Sushil Kumar, Gagan Narang amongst others, It had ace shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal as the trio spearheaded& the Indian badminton team’s campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and similarly others leading the charge of their respective sports.

As expected, the best performances came from Shooting where Indian contingent won 16 medals while they fielded 27 athletes for the various shooting events. Shooting also saw the arrival of fresh blood on the scene while some old stars started moving into oblivion.

The next best results came from Wrestling where we fielded 12 Wrestlers and each one brought a Medal atleast thereby giving 12 medals for the country.

While Boxing saw 12 Pugilists and 9 medals, the biggest surprise was in Weightlifting where we got 9 medals with 5 Golds. India fielded 16 member team in Weightlifting, Although their were murmurs of doping cloud over the Weightlifting contingent but nothing came out to be true.

However, Badminton was the most comprehensive performance where our stars performed and won as per their standing in the International scene. Unlike some other sports, we had tough competitors in the Badminton events& but Indian Stars came out with flying colors.

After a difficult start to his 2018 Formula 1 campaign, Force India's Sergio Perez was back in the Top 10 in qualifying after he qualified eighth for the Chinese Grand Prix. This was the Mexican's first Q3 run since 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The team started off with a decent run on Friday before getting into the Top 10 in FP3. While Perez was eigth, Esteban Ocon was not far off in 12th as only - but the Frenchman has a free tyre choice as opposed to Perez for the race.

"Quite happy with the qualifying and very happy& with& my position& as well," said Perez.& "We were so close in Q3, so pleased with that.& My Q3 lap was very strong and I feel that we really maximised qualifying.

"The wind was very tricky because it changed completely from yesterday and I knew it could offer us an opportunity& The strategy will be interesting because starting on the UltraSoft may not be ideal, but we will try and make it work."

Over the weekend, it was reported that Force India got its rear end concept slightly wrong and that the wind tunnel numbers were not matching to that of the on-track performance. As a result, the team has to come up with a quick solution to get the car work in the weekends.

There were no complaints from the drivers of difficulty in driving in Chinese GP qualifying, at least, with Ocon feeling pretty well. "To be honest, the car’s been feeling pretty good in the& sessions [this weekend]," he said.

"I was happy with how it was feeling [today], so it is just a bit disappointed with that [final sector mistake on Q2 run],& but tomorrow is another day and we will try to get some points." The Frenchman already has it first first point of 2018 in Bahrain.

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/perez-force-india-maximised-chinese-gp-qualifying-performancehttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/perez-force-india-maximised-chinese-gp-qualifying-performanceTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Mary Kom to be India's flagbearerMary Kom to be India's flagbearer

Indian boxing legend M C Mary Kom, who claimed a gold medal on debut at the Commonwealth Games, will be India's flagbearer at the event's closing ceremony here tomorrow.

A contingent of 218 athletes representied& India in Gold Coast, Australia for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The Games began on April 4 and will end on April 15, 2018. India has had a good run with medal winning performances by many athletes.

Mary Kom won the 1st Women Boxing Gold Medal today and has been chosen to be the Flag bearer for the Closing ceremony

India had to contend with another Silver in Boxing when Satish Kumar lost his bout against English opponent. Satish Kumar was up against England's Frazer Clarke for the gold medal in the men's 91kg boxing final.

This ends the Indian campaign in Boxing with 3 Golds & 3 Silver Medals. Earlier in the Day, Gaurav Solanki & Vikas won their final bouts and got 2 Golds while Mary Kom won her 1st CWG Gold. 3 Indian Men, Amit, Manish & Satish had to contend with Silver medals

Table Tennis team has turned out to be a surprise package for Indian contingent at CWG. With starry performances at Team events, Womens singles & doubles, it was time for the Men's doubles. Men’s doubles team of Harmeet Desai & Sanil Shetty, who just grabbed a Bronze Medal& against Singapore!

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/indian-mens-doubles-tt-team-win-silverhttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/indian-mens-doubles-tt-team-win-silverTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)No Medal for Indian Hockey at CWGNo Medal for Indian Hockey at CWG

Indian Men's team lost 2-1 to England int he Bronze Medal match at CWG.

India haven't had the best of tournaments at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. While winning against England, Wales and Malaysia, India's showing has been far from convincing. Close wins of 4-3 twice and 2-1 while drawing 2-2 with Pakistan, did get India into the semifinals but the danger signs were always there. It came true eventually against New Zealand when India lost& 2-3. England were beaten by Australia in their semifinal and it resulted& into a rematch at CWG 2018&

Early& in the match, England went up 1-0 against India.&

Later, India level the scores in the bronze medal match against England.& Varun Kumar converts India's first penalty corner of the game.& The score was tied 1-1 in the third quarter. But the 4th Quarter started with the English team taking a 2-1 lead. The Indian team tried hard for the equaliser but to no avail.

Earlier in the Day, the Indian& women& team suffered a humiliating 0-6 defeat in the bronze medal match against England to finish fourth at the Commonwealth Games.& Its now the third straight time that the Indian women’s hockey team will return empty-handed from the Games

Vikash Krishan makes it 3 Golds for India in Boxing. What was expected to be a Gold rush for India in Men's Boxing turned otherwise with only Gaurav winning in the morning till Vikas Krishan made it to the top of the Podium.

In the finals of 75 kg category, vikas defeated his opponent from Cameroon comfortably. He defeated& Cameroon's Dieudonne Wilfried in a unanimous verdict. This is the 3rd Gold in Boxing with Mary Kom and Gaurav Solanki winning 2 earlier int he day

Earlier,& Pallikal and Ghosal overcame top seeds Joelle King and Paul Coll of New Zealand 2-1 in the semifinals. But their journey ended with a Silver Medal as they lost the final match.

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]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/dipika-pallikal-and-saurav-ghosal-settle-for-silverhttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/dipika-pallikal-and-saurav-ghosal-settle-for-silverTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Bronze for Reddy/Ponnappa in BadmintonBronze for Reddy/Ponnappa in Badminton

Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa take home the bronze after winning their second game 21-19. They also won their first game 21-19 against Australia's Setuana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville.

The Indian Badminton team has seen some good performances today.& In a repeat of last Commonwealth Games' gold medal match, PV Sindhu downs Michelle Li of Canada with utter ease 21-18, 21-8 in just 36 minutes. Been an absolute masterclass from Sindhu here. Its SAINA NEHWAL VS PV SINDHU FOR GOLD while in Men's, our Kidambi is up against Chong Wei for a Gold.

We have been seeing some starry performances in Badminton.&

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/bronze-for-reddyponnappa-in-badmintonhttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/bronze-for-reddyponnappa-in-badmintonTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Manika Batra becomes the 1st Indian woman to win CWG Gold in TTManika Batra becomes the 1st Indian woman to win CWG Gold in TT

She has made history. Manika Batra becomes the first Indian woman to win a Gold in Table Tennis at CWG. She is definitey destined for bigger things and CWG Gold is just the start.& She& wins gold in women's singles& by beating Singapore's& Mengyu Yu of Singapore 11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7.&

As of April 2018, she is the top-ranked female table tennis player in India and ranked 58th in the world. Now with this performance, she is bound to reach higher up in rankings and expectations from her fans.&

The Catalan side have made just two changes to the side that lost to Roma in the Champions League as they look to maintain their lead in La Liga

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/barcelona-team-news-coutinho-paulinho-start-against-valenciahttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/barcelona-team-news-coutinho-paulinho-start-against-valenciaTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Premier League Betting Tips: Get a boosted 5/1 on both teams to score in Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City this weekend

The two Premier League heavyweights meet at Wembley on Saturday night, and dabblebet are offering an enhanced price on them both finding the net

It is first against third in La Liga this weekend and we think the in-form visitors are capable of producing a big performance at the Camp Nou

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/barcelona-v-valencia-betting-tips-latest-odds-team-news-preview-and-predictionshttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/barcelona-v-valencia-betting-tips-latest-odds-team-news-preview-and-predictionsTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Real Madrid's Casemiro 'one of the best in the world' - Ney Franco

The former Brazilian youth manager believes that the Real Madrid man has grown into one of the best in the world in his role Casemiro is up there as one of the best players in the world along with Ronaldo and Messi.

The goalkeeper was understandably incensed with referee Michael Oliver and his coach has urged critics to lay off the Italy icon

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/i-challenge-anyone-to-have-reacted-differently-allegri-defends-buffons-referee-ranthttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/i-challenge-anyone-to-have-reacted-differently-allegri-defends-buffons-referee-rantTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Rivaldo: Barca's Champions League exit is good for football

The Brazilian is a fan of the club after having played for them, but believes it is good that other teams will get a chance to shine

]]>http://anyfootballpodcast.com/rivaldo-barcas-champions-league-exit-is-good-for-footballhttp://anyfootballpodcast.com/rivaldo-barcas-champions-league-exit-is-good-for-footballTheoharrington@mail.com(Theo Harrington)Gianluigi Buffon 'inflammatory and out of order' for referee abuse - Lineker

The decision to send the goalkeeper off on Wednesday proved controversial, but the former England striker feels the reaction has been excessive